


You've never had gumbo before?

by PhenomenalBrat



Series: Dansen Dinner dates [10]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Conversations, Dansen - Freeform, Dansen dinner Dates prequel, Dates, Dinner, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Kelly tells a story, Kisses, Social Commentary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28351794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhenomenalBrat/pseuds/PhenomenalBrat
Summary: Kelly explains the subtlety of racism to Alex while teaching her how to prepare Gumbo in this prequel to the 'Dansen Dinner dates series' that finds Alex observing some painful truths.This story was featured in #BLDCine in October.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen
Series: Dansen Dinner dates [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789765
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	You've never had gumbo before?

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically part 0 or part 1 of the Dinner dates series.

_ " _ What is all this stuff for? Alex asked as she entered the kitchen, Moving to wrap her arms around her girlfriend from behind to pull her closer.

" What? You've never had gumbo before?" Kelly questioned, laughing at her own suprise.

"What's Gumbo?" Alex asked, genuinely curious as she examined the mix of shrimp, Hotlinks, ocra, chicken, corn and about 6 different seasonings already on the counter on different chopping boards.

"It's honestly the best, most delicious dinner in the world. Before my Brother left, we shared a bowl actually. It's like tradition." Kelly explained.

"Really? Any Olsen family tradition? " Alex asked, as she moved around Kelly to wash her hand at the sink. "How come we've never had Gumbo before?"

"Well, because it takes hours to cook and let stew," Kelly explains as she went back to cutting up the chicken.

"Hours?" 

"Yes Hours. And...I don't know. I've...I usually only cook it as a pick me up. Kinda something I learned from my dad before he passed."

"Oh. Kelly…"

"Yeah. He taught me and my brother to make it after this thing at a restaurant."

" A thing at a restaurant? Was the food that bad? " Alex asked as she grabbed a beer from the fridge before sitting back down to watch Kelly cook.

"I don't know. We never actually got to eat at the restaurant. We... uhm...we kinda got kicked out."

"Why?" Alex asked Genuinely confused.

For a moment Kelly Just looked at her girlfriend, momentarily baffled by Alexs' naivety in some areas. How could she explain this to someone who though worldly and accomplished, still carried a spark of, what she could only describe as...as well, "white small town ignorance". She loved Alex, she really did. 

"Well my dad had just gotten back from a 6 month assignment from the army and my mom was determined to have a celebration dinner…" Kelly began explaining. 

_ "Marcus! Hurry up and get dressed " Valencia Olsen voice echoed through the house. _

_ "Baby, I am dressed. I been dressed. " Marcus replied back from up the stairs _

_ " Marcus, if you come down these stairs with that same black t-shirt and Jeans...so help me in Jesus name..." _

_ "Baby.. " _

_ "Dads' home! Dads' home" Valencia could hear her sons' voice bouncing off the walls in loud excitement as he moved back and forth up stairs with his father.  _

_ "You put on that good button up and slacks I laid out for you. And get ya' son dressed. I want both my men looking sharp today." _

_ "Yes Dear" Marcus replied.  _

_ It was an old joke between them at this point. Marcus had always felt more at home in his comfortable jeans and crisp black t-shirt. At 6 foot 1' he tended to cut an impressive figure even when not dressed up. _

_ "You all ready sweetie?" Valencia turned her attention to her daughter who sat on the couch in the Den. _

_ " All ready mama." Kelly responded, kicking her heels and smiling in that carefree way only children can. " We really goin' to 'Le Cras today?" _

_ "Sure are baby girl. I took care of everythin' fo' your Daddy's homecoming." _

"My mom had planned this whole huge dinner and everything for us. She even managed to call in a reserved seating for us. "

"Your mom sounds incredible. I wanna meet her one day." Alex commented as she absorbed the story her girlfriend was telling her and continued sipping her beer.

"Yeah. I mean. My dad was a soldier and a hero but mom...well...she was a rock. And she had to be." Kelly explained, getting lost in her own thoughts as she peeled the tail off the shrimp now. " So, you know how I told you, my mom called in to reserve a table?"

_ "Ma'am I don't see your name on the list. " The hostess, a tall thin, brunette white woman with dark,brown eyes that screamed of boredom, at the front abruptly explained to Valencia as she stood patiently waiting. _

_ "I haven't even told you our names yet" Valencia shot back, not missing a beat as she slipped into that polite, empty tone that Black people tend to use in professional settings so as not to be called loud or ghetto simply for speaking and existing. She had dealt with these mind games and microaggression so often, she knew the game inside out now. _

_ "Mommy?" Kelly called from her mother's side, confused. "We have reservations. We called 4 different times." She explained in that innocent but blunt way that children had of cutting right to the point. _

_ Marcus, quiet presence behind his wife was the only sense of security, little Kelly could gather in this strange and dehumanizing moment that would come to be a quiet painful memory for her later in life. _

_ " _ I would have demanded to see the manager. That's crazy. She didn't even know who you were and just decided you didn't have reservations. What is wrong with some-"

"It didn't matter who we were. It didn't matter that we had money. We couldn't go in cause we were Black and that ment in the restaurants mind we didn't belong.

"The manager should have-"

"Alex." Kelly cut her girlfriend off, to finish the story. "Asking for a manager only helps if they care about you as customers and as people."

_ "I would like to speak to the person in charge. I have reservations and they've been triple checked. I called to check again before I left my home just 25 minutes ago as well." _

_ " Listen Miss-" _

_ "Olsen. And it Mrs. I'm married to a soldier for this country and yet can't even get a table at a restaurant. Imagine that " _

_ "Ma'am do not cause a scene or we are going to have to ask you to leave immediately" _

_ "I want to speak with the manager. " Valencia explained again, keeping her voice calm and steady in a tone that no one could mistake for yelling. _

_ "Ma'am look, we serve a select kind of clients here and we have a strict dress code. The manager would just tell you the same thing." _

_ Valencia kept her face impassive as she looked around at the rest of the guess, a sea of white faces, dressed similarly to her in her family. Clean pressed dresses for the women and Button up shirts, and slacks on the men, spoke to the up scale nature of this restaurant. Some of the men simply sported militarily camo, iron, pressed and looking professional as could be.  _

_ "There's Uncle Burnie," Kelly heard her brother whisper as he pointed at a blonde hair white man, with dark brown Nearly black eyes, and a small scar on his right cheek in a similar outfit to the one her father currently wore. Uncle Burnie and their father had served in the military together for nearly 10 years and Burnie could be heard on occasion loudly boasting how Marcus saved his life once, though Marcus always down played the exact nature of what happened.  _

_ "I am well aware of the dress code. We made sure to follow it to the letter. I would still like to speak to the manager." _

_ " Ma'am, your names are not on the reservation list" _

_ "You haven't actually checked for our names though since I hadn't told you, the first time." Valencia replied back calmly. She was a master at politeness kung-fu civility games that you had to play with white folks sometimes. Her calm steady but firm tone never wavered through this exchange  _

_ " If you're going to be rude, then I will have security call the police. As I stated, we serve a select cliental and…" _

  
  


"Mom hadn't raised her voice or cursed or said anything rude either. People love to recontextualize events to portray the Black woman as the unreasonable one though," Kelly explained as she dropped the diced hotlinks and cooked shrimp into the crock pot.

"Kelly. Im-Im so sorry anyonewould do that. " Alex could only offer her support as kelly relived this painful past memory.

" The car ride home was...quiet at first. I remember just sitting in the back seat, tears running down my face."

_ "What did we do wrong?" Little Kelly Asked, turning to her older brother for answers.  _

_ " We didn't do nothing wrong. Those people were just-" _

_ " Why couldn't we have dinner?" Little Kelly asked in confusion. _

_ "Hey don't cry " her brother instructed, reaching over to use the fancy napkin tucked in his shirt pocket, to dry her tears.  _

_ "How about I make dinner?" Marcus spoke _

_ "Baby, today's supposed-" _

_ "Vee trust me. Anything I cook will be better than that stuffy old restaurant anyways. Racist asses, would of problably poisoned us anyways. Crooked ass-" Marcus caught himself mid sentence, remembering the kids were in the car. _

_ "You kids want to help? I'll teach you to make my momma's down home southern style everything goes gumbo." _

"I can't even begin to understand what that was like. Nothing like that ever happened where Kara and I grew up." 

"It happens everywhere Alex." Kelly explained gently.

"Not Midvale tho. We- we would never let that happen. And I-I mean there's literally space aliens walking around on this planet." Alex attempted to explain her thoughts and smile softly looking like a confused but loving puppy. 

"Alex. I love you. Sometimes though, you are really just so- so-"

Kelly's brain searched for the right words to explain to her girlfriend that aliens who looked like blonde white cheerleaders got default white privledges if they looked like humans,but she hesitated not wanting to be harsh when she could tell Alex was genuinely trying to be supportive and listen. 

Kelly pulled out at least six different seasonings adding various degrees of each one into the crock pot. 

"Alex. I know you didn't necessarily see this kind of stuff happening as you grew up but it happens everywhere trust me. Even when you didn't notice. I'm sorry to tell you that.

"No. Don't be sorry. I'm sorry" Alex replied, standing up and getting out if the bar stool she sat in. " Do You mind if I help with dinner?"

"You trying to steal my secret recipe?" Kelly joked, breaking some of the heaviness that had settled on the room when she was recounting the restaurant story for Alex.

"Maybe. Who knows if I can keep up."

They worked around each other in steddy peaceful quiet for a few moments. Alex diced the Ocra Kelly had handed her while Kelly prepped the rice cooker.

"Kelly? Can I ask you something?"

"Anything " Kelly immediately responded. 

" You said earlier that, this kinda stuff happens even when I'm not noticing. Has that been- Did I not notice people doing that when we're out together or-???"

" A lot of it is so subtle. Don't beat yourself up for not noticing Babe. It does happen."

"National city tho...I-"

" Let's not forget, National city was having a xenophobic jerk run things and nearly murdering Aliens in their home. Bad things and bigoted people pop up everywhere " Kelly gently explained, " sometimes I catch people side eyeing us for being together and not because we're two women Alex."

" I feel like an idiot" 

"I'm sorry," Kelly sympathized "I just dropped this huge chunk of information on you like this, and we haven't even finished cooking dinner."

"Never be sorry for telling me the truth. I'm sorry I was so- so-"

"So unaware." Kelly supplies the conclusion to Alex's thoughts for her.

"Yeah. I don't know why I just assumed...I don't know, that we were all past that "

"Look at you, being an optimist now" Kelly teased.

"I just can't imagine anyone not loving and adoring you when they meet you" Alex stated with absolute certainty as she turned to look directly at Kelly now. 

"Are you saying, I had you at Hello"

"Absolutely. "

RING 

The banter is finally interrupted by the tell-tale buzz of Alexs' phone playing the ringtone for kara.

"Hold that thought" Alex asked, not taking her eyes off Kelly who continued to cut and dice and open cans or corn now.

"Hey Kara." 

"Alex...wait, is this a bad time? Lena and I wanted to invite you and Kelly to dinner. Nia and Brainy are coming so we figured, why not make it a triple"

"Kara...I'm-Im not really up for a restaurant tonight. My girlfriends' making me gumbo." Alex explained into the phone, while smiling at Kelly as if they were sharing some kinda forbidden secret.

"What is Gumbo?" 

"What? You've never had Gumbo before?" Alex immediately replied back, echoing Kellys words from earlier and drawing a laugh from her girlfriend. " I gotta go Kara"

"So what next? " Alex sat her phone down to go back to helping Kelly, wondering what else she would learn besides Gumbo before they were done.

_ FIN _

**Author's Note:**

> Author's notes: This story was included and featured in #BLDCine. The zine sold between October 15 and November 15, raising more than 15,000 dollars for charity. I'm now sharing this piece with all of you now that the zine sales are over.


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